Birch + Bird Vintage Home Interiors

Happy Halloween! Did you have a good weekend? We sure did! The murder mystery party that we went to on Friday night was so much fun…a wee bit too much fun judging by my headache the next day! But getting into costume and playing our parts was hilarious and we were with the perfect group of friends to share the fun with. The kids went to a costume party at a local dance school on Saturday night, leaving us a couple of hours to enjoy dinner at the new Cactus Club (so beautiful and so delicious!) restaurant with Rachel and her husband and we met up with another great couple of friends there as well. Sunday, we stayed in our PJ’s nearly all day and spent the rainy day watching movies and carving all of our pumpkins. All in all, it was a great weekend…busy but with the perfect amount of R&R.

And now, to start the week off with a sugar-induced bang! The kids were happily off to school in their costumes this morning and we’ll be trick-or-treating and having pizza with friends tonight. Will you be dressing up? Or just enjoying the treats…

Mara May

West Elm

Andie’s Specialty Sweets

Cast & Crew

Fresh Lemon Blossoms

DecouDermy

Edie’s Lab

Pottery Barn

Don’t mind the dark photo, but here’s a glimpse of our family pumpkins that we carved out yesterday. The bat I traced out for Lilah didn’t quite turn out as well as I’d hoped but Brad’s 3-D spider looks really cool lit up and I’m pretty happy with my feather and humming bird too. Do you keep it traditional with a jack-o-lantern or do you like to try something a little different with your carving? We do have one last pumpkin that I’d love to try painting…we’ll see how much time I have tomorrow though. Happy Haunting!

It’s the last weekend of October!  Can you believe it?  The past few mornings in our part of the world have been beautiful, with crisp air and sunshine burning through the fog.  The mountains are on fire with the shades of Autumn and the mountains got their first dusting of snow.  We are home bound this weekend but I hope we  get out for a  scenic drive even if it’s just the long way around to the paint store for yet another gallon of paint.

  photography by Carl Christensen

Are you dressing up for any Halloween parties this weekend?

Brrr, it’s getting chilly outside! It is definitely sweater and boots weather these days and the rain has come back to join us after being teased with a few days of warm sunshine. Halloween is just around the corner and, once again, I’m feeling somewhat unprepared. I suppose it’s not so bad…the kids have their costumes and we made our family trip to the pumpkin patch last weekend…but I don’t have a single spooky decoration up around our house. We don’t tend to go overboard with Halloween decorating but I do usually at least have a little something going on at my front door. Nothing a quick trip to the dollar store and some fresh cut branches can’t solve!

Have you carved your pumpkins yet? We usually wait until a day or two before Hallow’s Eve and I like to do something a little different every year. Brad enjoys taking on the carving of the kids’ pumpkins but I like doing my own. I love the scraping technique, where the light shines through subtly…isn’t this chevron one simple yet so pretty? I still can’t get enough of zigzags and stripes…

Country Living

Wit & Whistle

Better Homes & Gardens

Painted pumpkins are another great option. We have oodles of leftover paint in our basement and some of these colourful patterns would be the perfect way to use up at least a little bit of it. I love simple black and white pumpkins too and there are some great templates out there to help out with more difficult silhouettes…

HGTV

Whatever…

Better Homes & Gardens

Rachel Ray via Babble

Alisa Burke

Our weekend is looking pretty full and I’m a little disappointed that we won’t have time to host a kids party this year. We used to invite friends over for a pumpkin carving party the day before Halloween and it was always loads of fun. Most of our friends now have 3 kids though so it started to get a little crazy, especially with sharp knives involved! But if you’re looking for some kid-friendly fun, I found some key ingredients for an adorable kids party. From invitations, to healthy snacks and sweet treats, to take home caramel apple kits and more…

Rifle Paper Co.

Martha Stewart

Another Lunch

Kitchen Daily

Oh Happy Day

We’re headed to our first Murder Mystery party tomorrow night and Brad and I are excited to get dressed up and get into character. It’s going to be pretty funny…he’s a Mexican singer and businessman (sombrero and all!) and I’m Ginger Heart, owner of a concierge company… and there will be 5 other couples dressed up in equally random costumes! Now, I just need to track down a blazer and some sexy glasses…

I’ve always been attracted to great architecture and interior design as far back as I can remember.  And I often find myself playing the designer in my head.  Rethinking or rearranging the spaces of my friends and family, shops, hotels, pretty much anywhere.  Today I thought it might be fun to do something a little different.  Take a browse through the images below and tell us what you love, what you don’t and what you would do differently, if you were the designer.  The budget is huge, so don’t hold back.

These spaces are from The Modern Life Concept House.  Elle Decor selected ten A-listed Interior Designers to design spaces for two downtown New York apartments for the Concept House that was showcased this past summer.  I’m so sad to have missed out on the tour…and a trip to New York.  Elizabeth Martin designed the living room above and Grant Gibson the kitchen below.  What do you think?

All images by Jamie Beck for Sacramento Street

It’s always fun to spend someone else’s money, isn’t it?

We had what seemed to be an extra long weekend for our family over the last few days. The kids had a pro-D day on Friday and Brad lucked out with a 4-day weekend away from work. It felt great to lounge around a little bit and to get a few projects done around the house, along with a visit out to the pumpkin patch and some quality time with friends and family. I’m trying to tick at least a couple more little projects off of my to-do list before diving in and doing some major painting, making the jump from dusky grey to creamy white for the main floor of our home. I can’t wait but it’s one of those looming projects that I know will take over life for at least a week, likely much longer by the time everything gets settled back into it’s rightful place. But I know that it will feel so great to finally put it behind me and to brighten up our space for the winter months ahead.

With fresh white walls, I’ll be eager to inject seasonal colour into our space and yellow has been at the top of my list for a couple of years now. Mustard, ochre, and goldenrod are some of my favourite variations of the hue and I couldn’t help but notice several trees ablaze in gold on our drive out to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. I especially love yellow in home interiors when combined with raw wood…

Elle Decor

Nube Green

Casa De Valentino

Elle Decor

Charcoal gray, white or cream showcase yellow beautifully, don’t you think? I love the energy that golden tones bring to a space. Whether on a feature wall, decorative accent or incorporated into a statement piece of furniture, one can’t help but notice yellow in a room…

Nest Instinctual Interiors

Centsational Girl

Crafty Blossom via Creature Comforts

Style At Home

West Elm

Better Homes & Gardens

I was lucky enough to purchase an amazing large vintage sign, a yellow metal “E” (for Ellis,) from Nicole of Farm & Found at Fieldstone last month and I can’t wait to find a new home for it on one of my soon-to-be freshly painted walls. With the winter rains fast approaching, I’m thinking that I’ll need to bring as much sunshine indoors as possible!